Christmas wk 1, 12/12 (Abbie Sawzak).

So we are going to be reading out of Luke chapter 1 today, as well as 2. So if you guys want to open up your Bibles, you can do that. And I'm going to go ahead and start. Luke 1, verse 26 says this.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. How will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin. The angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is now in her sixth month, for no word from God will ever fail. I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. May your word to me be fulfilled. And the angel left her.

Luke 1:26-38

Next we're going to read in Luke chapter 2, verse 1, where it says:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause you great joy for all people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth. Peace to those on whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Luke 2:1-21

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that we can read about the story of your Son Jesus. The story of his birth. The story of heaven coming down to earth and meeting us. So God, we thank you today that we get to be here gathered as your family in your presence, hearing from you years and years later. And Lord, I pray that today as we listen to these words and even as we just heard those scriptures, those words that were straight from you God, that it wouldn't just be like any other year. But that you would meet us in a unique new way today. That for the next few moments that you would just speak to us and you would come and would you reveal to us just how much you love us and how much you are truly going to be faithful to everything you have promised. Lord, when we just be so aware of that in these next few moments. And so God, we just open up our hearts to receive whatever it is that you have for us. And we ask that Lord, you would speak and you would come and your precious name we pray. Amen.

Heaven meeting earth in unexpected places

So here we are, Christmas season. And Christmas, as we know, is so much more than just a time for us to celebrate and to have presents and to gather with family. Those are all such special things. But more than that it's a time where we get to pause and we get to reflect and we get to remember the story of Jesus' birth when heaven came down onto earth.

The story of Christmas is the story of Jesus coming and taking the common things, the common people, the common places and ushering in the divine. Today we read this story of Jesus' birth, but what we see is that God came and he met people in unexpected places. He met people in just right where they were at, in their common place. And he invited them in to participate in his divine story of redemption.

The story of Christmas is the story of God meeting us in common places and inviting us to participate in his divine story of redemption. You see the shepherds that were there just in their place of work. They were doing what was set before them and the angel of the Lord appeared to them and met them right there. You see Mary who was just living her life. And the angel of the Lord met her and said you are going to give birth to the Messiah, the Savior of the world. No pressure there at all for that young girl. But just as people were going and being obedient to what was right in front of them, in those unexpected places and in their common places and even in places that may have seemed insignificant at the time, God met them and he invited them to participate in the story of the divine, his divine hand of redemption, of restoration.

And what I want us to see in this story is the one common thing for all of these people is one, remembering and us being aware that God knows where to find us. That no place is too far for him. No place is too hard for him. He knows where we're at and he can meet us at any moment. But the significance is, is that all of these people were ready to boldly follow and to say yes.

God meets us in common places

I want to talk about a few things here today when we're looking at these common places that God came and he met them. We first see God coming and meeting Mary in Luke chapter 1 and I think what's significant there is that when he met Mary, she was just living her everyday life. He met her in her common place, in her common world. In the same way for the shepherds, in some ways, if you think about the shepherds and where they were at, it was their workplace. It was their day-to-day lives. And I think even today, for us to know that, that in the same way that God showed up then, he wants to continue to show up and to invite us into his story of redemption.

The next place that we hear about is we hear about them being led to Bethlehem. Now you may be familiar with this nativity story and this idea of them going to Bethlehem. Bethlehem at that time was not a significant place. Bethlehem was not something that was on the map. But what we see here is God using a town like Bethlehem is showing us that no place is insignificant to God.

According to scholars, Bethlehem's size and Bethlehem's location was located six miles south of Jerusalem, which was the holy city. So if there was going to be anywhere where the king was going to come, Bethlehem made no sense at the time. Absolutely no sense. Now you may have heard me share things like this before, but when we were getting ready just five years ago to come here and to start Kyli Fund Madison and eventually the church. I can't tell you how many people, when we would say, we're so excited about what God's going to do and we're excited to be here and get to know this city, so many people would make comments about Madison saying, well, don't even try. Like, don't even try with a city like that. And in all this negativity around, why are you going to try. Why even do that.

But what I've seen time and time again, even in a city where so many people have turned their face from and where so many churches have come and have tried to start and see God move, but nothing has happened, is that no place is insignificant to God. Because we have seen that in this city that God has continued to do the miraculous time and time again. I'm even thinking of this time last year, we as a church, we didn't have a place to meet. We didn't know what was going to happen, but we've seen God continue to provide. Bethlehem at the time was not on the map, but God had other plans for it.

And it really has caused me to think this Christmas as I'm reflecting on the different places that God used, is to really be aware of the places that I'm walking. The places that God still wants to come and to usher in his presence and invite me to participate in the divine. When we're walking around our neighborhoods to start to notice the things that are happening around us, to notice the places, to notice the people, to notice the businesses, and to remember that every single place that our feet walk, that God still wants to bring his presence. That he didn't just send Jesus to come and to be born and to die on the cross and for us to never think about that again, but he did it so that then his Holy Spirit could come and live within us and we can be his hands and feet and to continue to bring his glory into every place that we walk.

Bethlehem was mentioned in other places in scripture. We see in Genesis 35 that it's mentioned in the story of Jacob and Esau and it's the place where Jacob fled after deceiving his brother Esau out of his birthright. And we see that there. And we see that it was also mentioned at the hometown of Ruth's father-in-law in the story of Ruth and of Boaz. And we see it continue to be a place that God redeemed their stories then and he redeemed the story of that town later.

Bethlehem means house of bread

Some other things that I want to talk about of why is this place important and why Bethlehem. Bethlehem means house of bread. House of bread. And bread held great importance in Bible times. It was a staple of the ancient diet, probably still a staple of most of our diets today, unless you're one of the few gluten-free people in our church. It's a staple in the ancient diet, and it was a form of nourishment, right. It's a form of survival.

And you even see in the time with the Israelites when God provided them manna from heaven daily. And it was this daily reliance on him to come and send the manna from heaven to feed them, to nourish them, to sustain them. And so you see that even in those stories in the Old Testament, that it was foretelling that Jesus was going to come and he would be the one that would daily provide for us, that would daily feed us and nourish us and sustain us. God was and now through Jesus still is our provider and our sustainer. He fills us, he nourishes us, and we get the opportunity to continue to do that.

And we see that Jesus continues to reiterate these truths in the gospel of John. He declares himself as the bread of life. And so he's even confirming that for us where he's saying I am the bread of life. He continues to say this even in the story in John 6:11 where it says:

Jesus took the loaves and he gave thanks and he distributed it to those who were seated as much as they wanted he did the same for the fish.

John 6:11

And if you familiar with the story of Jesus feeding the people in the New Testament, you see that there was more than enough for them, that he continues to fill them and nourish them to overflow. So Jesus, when he lived his life, was showing us that he's not just going to give us a little bit, but he came to give us abundance, life to the full. In John 6:32-33 it says:

Do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life which the son of man will give you for on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.

John 6:32-33

He's born in the town of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, which means house of bread. And he then goes on to live his life to feed people, to nourish them, and to say, I am the bread of life. To say that I'm going to continue to fill you and sustain you. God promised that Jesus would be the bread of life. That he would come back and that he would be the savior of the world. And we've seen that all throughout scripture.

Micah 5:2 says:

But you, O Bethlehem, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. And he will stand to lead his flock in the Lord's strength in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And he will be the source of peace.

Micah 5:2

From a small town, a small place that was only a small village among the people of Judah. That is where God decided that his son would be born. You know, what I love here is that we see that this place that was just insignificant on the map is now all of a sudden significant and prominent in God's story of divine redemption.

But what I also think about is what a weird way to get there that Mary and Joseph had to take a step of faith. And even though she is pregnant, she is ready to give birth, they are still on this journey going. And I know for for most of us we have not physically given birth in this room, some of us are about to really soon. But thinking about where you're at in that place of saying this doesn't make sense for us to travel this way. This doesn't make sense for us to go at this time. And how many times in our lives still today do we look at things and do we say well that just doesn't make sense and that doesn't add up. That we want to go and we want to continue to just create this perfect little story for our lives, this perfect little plan for our lives that makes sense.

But in this moment, they had to take a step in faith and to continue to follow and to go to Bethlehem even when it didn't make sense for them. But they trusted that God's plan was greater. And they said yes to participating in his divine story of redemption. And I want us to think about that today because I think sometimes when we read the story of the nativity, it can be easy to think of, well, they were just so aware of what was going to happen, that they just knew that this was going to be the most holy moment. But they were people just like me and you who had to say yes, who had to go on a long journey to a place that didn't make sense to say yes to God's plan and participate in God's plan of redemption.

Jesus in the center

The next thing that we see is Jesus coming and being born in a stable and being placed in a manger. Now I talk about this a lot because when I realized this it completely changed my idea of the Christmas story. But more times than not the manger would have been at the center of the home. So it wouldn't have been in some far-off barn in the middle of the field, but at that time, most households, because their animals were their livestock, their animals were what fed them, they would want to protect them and keep them warm. And so they would most likely, in the first floor, when you walk into a home at that time, all the animals would be in the center of the home at night.

And so when we think about sometimes what we have kind of made the Christmas story to be, it's that, you know, it's this field out in the middle of nowhere, it's a tiny little shack, a tiny little barn, nobody else was around. But the reality of what the story probably was closer to is that in the middle of this messy stable, in the center of the home, Jesus came. He came right in the middle. God then and God now continues to meet us in the center whether we're ready or not.

I don't know if Mary was perfectly ready and it was the exact moment that she dreamed of to give birth to her first son. But that was the place that God wanted to use. And we continue to see that today that God continues to meet us in the center of our lives. Maybe not always in church services where we show up and we're ready to pray and we're saying, okay, God, speak to me now. You might walk out of here today and you're like, God, I didn't get anything from that. God, I needed something. You could give it to me. But maybe in the middle of your work day on a Wednesday, he's going to show up and ask you to do something. And the question is, are you ready.

When he comes in the middle and he enters the center of your life, are you ready to say yes. Because Jesus came to this insignificant town in this unexpected place and that's where God chose for heaven to come and to meet earth. He was redeeming and restoring from the very beginning. I want to just kind of wrap up that first part by just saying to all of us today, don't underestimate what God can do in your midst. Don't underestimate his story, his timeline, the places that he wants to show up.

For Mary it was just living her life. For the shepherds it was in the middle of them doing their jobs and just being faithful to taking care of those sheep. For Mary and Joseph it was following on this weird journey of saying well I am not about to give birth out of town, but here we are traveling far, not ideal, unexpected, an insignificant town that was never on the map. And that's where the Savior entered the world. So don't underestimate what God wants to continue to do for us.

Are you ready to say yes

In the moment that he going to ask us to participate in the divine, really we just have to continue to ask ourselves. Are we like Mary? Like the shepherds in their place of work? Like Joseph and Mary saying yes to going on this weird journey to Bethlehem. Are we ready to? And so I just want to invite you to pray about that.

And as I was thinking this week and praying for it, I was just so reminded time and time again of how Jesus, when he left heaven to come to earth, he did it to redeem and restore us in a personal way. And so as we are in this Christmas season and as we are thinking about everything and the busyness that's going on, I wanted us to take a moment on this Sunday to just pause and to just think about in what ways of our lives that we need to get ready for when God shows up that we can say yes in a significant way. To reflect on the ways that he has redeemed us and restored us. And to make room for him to come and to show us the ways that he wants us to help do that for other people.

And worship team, you can start to come as we get ready to close tonight. But I'm just so overwhelmed by the fact that in the story of Jesus' birth, it's a story of all of these people in the middle of their busyness, in the middle of their lives, being ready to say yes to participate in God's story of redemption. And then as I was in this room with this woman, Beth Grant, who founded Project Rescue, and she's sharing about how scared she was during COVID because she was here in the States and she wasn't there with these girls. And how scary it was for her to say yes to the call when they said, would you take these 200 girls. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she said yes.

And then, fast forward, just maybe a few months after that, when they say, actually, will you buy this whole brothel. It's yours if you want it. You don't hear about those things. That is a miracle. But her heart was in a place where she was ready to say yes, to say yes to participate in God's divine story of redemption.

And sometimes I wonder, even in my life, in those moments of when God, if you were to show up to me in that type of way, am I ready to have room in my life to say yes. And so as I put out this invitation to say, would you be bold in generosity this Christmas season. Would you even talk about the ways you're going to spend your money to see do you have room to give to this. Here's the thing we sometimes have to say no to other things to say yes to the things that God has before us. And we have to be ready and we have to prepare to make room to say yes when God asks us.

And so even thinking of the future, if you're in a place now where you're like I have no extra money to ever give to anything, man I want to invite you. Would you even start looking at the end of this year to say how can I fix my budget so I can make room. How can I fit my schedule and work on my schedule so that when people in my life need help, need love, need support, I can show up. What are those ways that we need to start to make space in our lives and to make room for when those opportunities come to say yes. We're ready to say yes.

Making room for God

And I think it happens in a couple ways. It happens in a couple ways. I think it's practical. Those practical things of saying, okay, we can look at our finances and say, how can we budget to be bold in our generosity. How can we budget to sacrifice. I think it's looking at our schedules and saying, do we have margin to love people well. Do we have times in our day if we're stopped by someone to have a conversation and to assess their needs.

But then also, there's a place in our hearts that we need to prepare. If we're going to be ready to say yes, when God gives us those invitations, when he meets us in our spaces, there's a peace in our heart we have to prepare. Because what we see there is that Mary, of course, I mean, she didn't really have a huge choice. The baby was going to come. But we see that Mary's there, and she had to say yes to go to Bethlehem, but she prioritized God's plan and his voice and what he wanted and being obedient to his timeline and his story.

Where we see the shepherds, they prioritize the coming of Jesus and him moving and him being the Savior of the world. That they were willing to just go. Okay this is it. In the middle of their workplace, they're like alright tell us. Meet us. We're here. We're ready. So it starts with our hearts. Of positioning and preparing ourselves. To be ready to say yes.

So that whatever space God meets us in, whether it's just our everyday life, in those common spaces, whether it's our workplace, whether it's our neighborhoods, maybe are the streets and the blocks that other people have told us are insignificant or have told us that's a place where God will never move. It's us being ready to say yes. So I'm going to invite you to stand and we're going to close in a time of worship and I do I want to just encourage you when you pray about what you can give to this project, would you pray about what are those things in your heart that you need to surrender so that you can make room to prioritize what God wants over everything else this Christmas season. So that you can be ready to say yes to participate in his divine plan of redemption.

So Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this word. God, we thank you for what you were doing through Project Rescue. God, we thank you for all of those women that have been set free and have been given new life. Lord, we know that that is nothing short of a miracle, something that only you can do. So God we thank you that your son Jesus came to seek and save the hell which was lost to redeem us and to restore us. And now that we get to participate in that redemption story we thank you for that Jesus.

And so God I just pray for everyone here today if there's things in our heart that maybe we need to surrender to you, would we do that so we have room to hear your voice when you call. If there's things in our life that maybe we need to readjust or to shift whether with our finances or our time to make room to say yes when you are asking us to God would you reveal that to us through your Holy Spirit in these next few moments. We love you Lord, we thank you and we ask all this in your name. Amen.